Hiring officials at the Department of Homeland Security are trying to get away from the practice of simply hiring for specific job titles and classifications and are instead trying to plan for the societal and environmental changes that will impact the workforce long term, according to DHS Chief Human Capital Officer Angela Bailey.

“When we think about things like workforce planning, a lot of times what folks talk about is they really just say, ‘I need five more [GS]-2210’s or a couple more -343’s.’ That’s not workforce planning; that’s just requirements, and that’s just numbers,” said Bailey at a March 10 ACT-IAC event.

“When we talk about true workforce planning, we have to actually scan the future … and start thinking about, given these environments, what else are we going to need?”

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According to Bailey, things like changing weather patterns, advancing technology and geopolitical challenges will change not only the kinds of employees that the agency needs, but also how they manage those employees.

For example, a warming climate means that the Arctic may become a viable direction of approach for entering the United States, calling for a realignment of employees, while the potential for droughts and lower food production may mean more migrants and refugees coming into the United States.

Warmer weather will also change health considerations for employees and the dogs and horses some of them work with, forcing the agency to realign breaks and health maintenance while considering the eventuality that those animals could be replaced with robots and employees augmented with machines.

The number of potential employees available to the agency may also change.

“Because the fertility rate is falling off, we actually will not have enough employees to do our jobs,” said Bailey.

To attract the hard-to-come-by talent, DHS may also have to stray from the traditional means of posting federal jobs.

“We’re jumping out ahead on implementing a cyber talent management system this year, which is designed for us to have the ability to recruit and hire those based on the talent that they bring to us, rather than us putting out an announcement on USAJobs and praying that somebody finds it,” said Bailey.

“When we get the resumes in, we’d be able to then look at that and say, ‘where would this person fit in DHS versus having a specific job?’”

In order to retain the employees that they do hire, Bailey said that DHS is working to incorporate mindfulness training and a form of couples counseling to get employees in a better mental state to deal with what are often highly stressful jobs.

“What goes on at home comes to work; what goes on at work comes home,” said Bailey.

Such soft skills will be essential to the future success of the workforce, though Bailey avoids putting it in such terms: “I don’t talk like that at all. If you talk like that, it will not happen. You have to say, ‘in order to have operational readiness, they have to be mentally in the game every single day. Here are some techniques, here are some tools, here are some practices to get them in the game every single day.’”

And though Bailey said that she worried agency HR managers are “so mired in today’s crisis and today’s situation,” she added that DHS is actively making sure that the workforce is prepared for the dangers posed by coronavirus.

“I guess we had a good training ground with the 35-day shutdown last year, where we led our way through that,” said Bailey.

“The partnership is between my office of occupational safety and health and the components’ offices of occupational safety and health experts and the medical doctors. Each one, their mission is different, how they interact with the public is different. There will never be a one-size-fits-all; it will all be operationally driven as to how we protect those individuals.”

About Jessie Bur

Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.

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